


Tower Talk - the Past Flings

by ArtsyGirl



Series: A Piece of Me [12]
Category: Enderal (Video Game)
Genre: Brandy - Freeform, Drinking, Drinking & Talking, Emotionally Opening Up, F/F, F/M, Flirting, Gen, Light Angst, Love, Merlon - Freeform, Near Ark, Old Flames, Old Friends, Past, Slavery, Talking, Telling Stories, Watchtower - Freeform, emotional stuff, joking, sunset
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-03-04
Updated: 2018-03-04
Packaged: 2019-03-27 02:32:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,505
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13871232
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ArtsyGirl/pseuds/ArtsyGirl
Summary: A messenger boy somehow got into the Sun temple and basically hunted her down to give her a mysterious letter that turns out to be from from the handsome mercenary that tells her to meet him in the old watchtower near the western gate of Ark.





	Tower Talk - the Past Flings

**Author's Note:**

> This is my take on the little talk at the tower.

  
In the letter Jespar told me to meet him at the old watchtower at the western gate of Ark. I’m at the place but I don’t see anyone here. Think I should check inside the tower.  
  
A friendly voice startles me “Ah, there you are- Glad that you made it! So how was it? I heard quite some stories about this ‘trial’ and was never sure what to make of it.”  
  
I don’t even know why but he’s greeting spooked me so that I even jumped. “What are you doing hiding here, you almost gave me a heart attack.”  
  
He chuckles, clearly amused.  
  
“Anyway to answer your question it was different than what I expected. How come you’re still here? I thought that you wanted to be on a boat to Kilé.”  
  
The merc seems to be a little unsure, he’s voice is a little disappointed. “Yeah, I changed my mind.” Oh did he now, never would have figured that.  
  
Really should get over my sarcasm… I fold my arms on my chest and smile, not being sarcastic at all “Can’t say that I’m all broken up about you decision to stay in this wonderful country.”  
  
Jespar bows with his head a little. “I’m flattered, my fair lady.” I do rather like it when he calls me that, makes our friendship a little flirty and puts a smile on my face. Think he likes it too, hasn’t shown or acted otherwise.  
  
The flirty mercenary gestures towards the stairs “ Now would you follow me upstairs, it’ll be worth it.”  
  
A little surprise isn’t that sweet. He climbs the stairs of the watchtower to the highest floor. There’s a ladder, he climbs it and moves on to the roof then looks back down at me and asks “You coming?”  
  
No way that I’d stay behind, I’m too curious for that so I go right after him. When I reach the top he offers me a hand and helps me get up there, like I’m some classy lady.  
  
“There we are… wait a second.” And he runs off to a crate. As he goes to rummage through it I look around. We are quite high. It is a beautiful evening, the sun is beginning to set and the sky is decorated with many beautiful shades of yellow turning into orange taking a new shade of pink that is turning into purple and then blue. Now this is one of the simple joys of life looking at a pretty sunset. Today the evening is warm, summery, I love it. It may be a cliché but summer is my favorite season.   
  
I look at the construction of the tower and see that the merlons (the solid upright section of a battlement) are too short, they should be taller, the height of a man to be more exact, otherwise it is only practical as a table not a protective element.  
  
I glance at Jespar, he is still looking for something. Ah well I’ll just hoist myself up and sit on one of the merlons. The view from here is spectacular. The wind is soft and warm, it tussles strands of my hair that have escaped the quick, practical and to be honest kind of messy bun. I reach out my hand towards the sun and the horizon, the suns height is about 3 fingers so about 3/4 of an hour of sunlight left.  
  
Jespar breaks the silence by asking me “Pipe or wine?”  
  
Is that the little surprise? – I do like the idea a lot but a friend suggested that I’d keep away from drinking but then again this is Jespar and it IS a special occasion and I don’t want to insult him by turning down that delicious offer. “Wine sounds good.”  
  
An old looking bottle is lifted up from that crate. The mercenary blows off the dust from the label of the bottle “Tirmatralean brandy, vintage 8190. A real treasure… Consider it a congratulatory gift for passing the trial.”  
  
He uncorks the bottle and asks “I hope that you don’t mind drinking straight from the bottle because I don’t have any cups.”  
  
“Not if I don’t have to climb down from my merlon.”  
  
He chuckles “No you don’t have to climb down, you want to feel tall sometimes too. But anyway the first taste is yours.”  
  
“Ouch, my self-confidence took a blow there, you are lucky that you’re that handsome otherwise I’d show you what this ‘short’ person can do. And I’m not that little, only about one and a half head shorter than you.” He laughs and hands the bottle over to me.  
  
The smell of the brandy is sweet, rich, strong and tropical. The color of the drink is a beautiful shade of golden brown. I take a sip from it and it tastes as good as it smells, it makes my tongue tingle a little. I hand the bottle back to him.  
  
There is a moment of silence between us, not the awkward kind more like the enjoying the moment and no need to ruin it with meaningless words type while sharing and handling a bottle full of some good stuff back and forth.  
  
He takes a sip of brandy, hands it over to me and then lights his pipe “Nothing better than a good pipe and a nice sight to go along with it… it’s always sad to see how few people can truly appreciate these things.” He leans on one of the melrons close to me “Anyway, tell me, my fair lady: What is it that drives you? I’ve been asking that myself since we met. I mean, it’s not like anyone is forcing you to play errand boy for Arenthal, is there? And with your abilities you could make a fortune as a mercenary. Not to mention the danger you put yourself in. Securing the excavation site, passing the trial… they certainly haven’t been easy on you so far.” To think of it then they have been pushing me towards dangerous tasks, haven’t they and that was just the beginning, I wonder what else lay in storage.  
  
That question though: what drives me? Strange, I’ve never given it much thought, it feels important to know the answer but is there one? “Hard to say. I don’t think that there’s anything that ‘drives’ me, I’m just playing it by ear. And just so you know for a short time time I even tried the approach of a mercenary on life here, worked out pretty well but then there was a thought that kept coming back to me: why not try and see what the big noses in the temple have to offer. Why not to take everything that is thrown my way.”  
  
He seems to be a little relieved, perhaps he was expecting me to lecture him on how I’m on some path set by Malphas, that he should embrace the religion and bring belief back into his life? Thankfully for him and probably many others I’ve never been a religious nut and don’t plan on starting today. “So you’re taking life as it comes. Hm… I like that thought. In any case it is interesting to see how you’ve gotten from being a magically gifted refugee to the center of all ‘this’.” He takes a good puff from the pipe “Kind of reminds of a woman I used to travel with…Lysia. No matter where we went she always ended up in the eye of the storm.” Reminds me of an old friend too, time to take a sip from the delish brandy.  
  
He sighs “That was thirteen years ago now. By the Wise Hermit, time really is merciless.”  
  
Curiosity gets the better of me and I ask “How did you end up travelling with her?”  
  
“We got hired for the same job. Usually I work better on my own but this partnership was refreshing, in every aspect. It felt good to know someone’s got your back for a change, especially with the kind of work I do. Which is why we decided to stick together after that first job. And it went great, at least initially.” He leans more heavily on the merlon and looks off into the distance “She was just too intense, that’s the right word for it. She wanted everything, and she wanted it at once. The rarest jewels, the most handsome men, the best contracts. If you would’ve asked her to steal the Golden Queen’s crown, she would have done it without hesitation, just for the thrill of it.”  
  
She sounds like an interesting woman, a person with who there can be great fun found but for a shorter period of time otherwise it’ll take its toll, wonder if life with her took its toll on Jespar. “For how long did you work together?”  
  
“That was… let me think. About three years, yeah. We went to Arazeal, Qyra and Arktwend, and one time, we even fought a group of Petrified on Melée. She fought as ardently as she lived. I don’t know how I would have survived that fight without her.”  
  
The way he speaks of her is sweet, like she is some kind of a lost lover of his. “So I take it you two were an item, a couple?”  
  
The mercenary shrugs “We travelled together, we had sex… so yes, according to most peoples definition of it, we were a couple.” Strange his tone changed from sweet to indifferent, did I hit a nerve there?  
  
There’s still some brandy left. I swirl it around in the bottle. “To me it sounds like she wasn’t too different from you.”  
  
“Oh yes, she was. I love a good adventure and earthly pleasures, but I can cope without them I could always tell a difficult job from a reckless on, and that has kept me alive… Lysia pretty much lived by one principle… The more extreme the job, the better. With that attitude, I guess it was obvious that things would go south eventually… one way or the other.”  
  
I slightly lean forward. “That sounds rather ominous. What happened to her?”  
  
Jespar frowns a little “Well she started expecting more from our ‘partnership’, our talks and the occasional sex. As she saw it, you either go ‘all the way’ or you don’t go at all.” It seems to be a sensitive topic for him. He begins to clean out his pipe. The mercanary taps it a few times against the merlon and puts the pipe in his pocket. “I wasn’t ready for that.”  
  
Sounds like a typical sad love story from a book, fair maiden falls for the dashing lad or as she sees him -the prince charming. The two have a fling and one day the fair maiden wants more than he can or is willing to offer. How many stories have I read and heard that follow these lines? Life is a lot like stories from books with the difference that on paper there is less hurt and more happy endings. Kind of sad if you think about it. “So she wanted something serious, Love.”  
  
I hand the bottle over to him, he takes a hefty gulp “Love as she defined it, yeah. Had it been for her, we would have been married after the first night.”  
  
Often in stories the fair maiden is made to look like the victim, the suffering party but life isn’t as black and white as it is in books. The ‘prince charming’ always has his reasons too, but nobody seems to care. “And what is that you wanted?”  
  
“That is a long story. Not the one that puts me into a favorable light, at least if you’re like most people. Let’s save that for another time.” Like most people- that stung, but I guess that we don’t know each other that well, yet.  
  
Now the usual ending that isn’t all sweet in the stories is that the fair maiden and the lad go their separate ways. “So you spit up?”  
  
“Split up…Yeah. That’s one way to put it.” Jespar seems to be sad, there is this empty look in his eyes as he stares down at the ground. In storybooks they never tell what the split-up is like for the lad who wasn’t ready to be tied down. Now is he the example of that or is there something else hidden beneath the surface?  
  
He looks back to me and fakes a cheerier voice “But anyway, enough about me. What about you? Has there ever been someone special in your life? Or have you always been the lone wolf?”  
  
Did he just want to change the subject? I think he did, but I’ll bite. “Maybe, maybe not”  
  
A tiny smirk appears on his face “Hey that’s my line!”  
  
I shrug “A woman needs to keep a little mystery about herself, don’t you think?” I gesture him to pass the bottle, I take a big sip of the delish brandy “But honestly I’m not even sure. Special like the most vivid a few nightstand or special like a friend you always had a crush or I don’t know there is a lot out there and I’m not good at this interpreting my feelings thing.”  
  
Jespar crosses his arms and leans on the merlon facing me “So I take it there was a friend you had a crush on.”  
  
How could he have known that? “That obvious, huh? “  
  
“I’m afraid so.”  
  
“And there I thought that I was excellent at hiding these parts of myself.”  
  
“You probably are but it is just me, I’m very good at reading people. Now why don’t you tell me about this ‘friend’?”  
  
Maybe it is the slight buzz from the brandy or my terrible judgment but I feel like taking a chance trusting him. “Ahh… That story goes back a long time. We actually met when it was year 199 and that is not by the Enderalian time counting, heck it wasn’t even in Enderal. It started when we were in a bad place, she’d been there a few months before I was sent there. We met because we shared a room.”  
  
“Might I ask where were you?”  
  
“A far off, well hidden place where slaves were held, used, sold and bought that most people didn’t know about, I doubt that they even know right now what is going on in the darkest places beneath the facades of people in power.” Still a lot of unresolved stuff tied to that place, time for the shot of courage to take the leap of trust. And just like that the drink is no more.  
  
I take a deeper breath and tell the story “That place was awful. The worst part is that they break you so you don’t think of escaping or doing anything they disapprove of. The only thoughts you’ll have are how to make your master happy so you don’t get another beating, so you’d get your food and water. At first one may try to rebel but they find out, they always find out and then the beat you, starve you, torture you, rape you.” I run my fingers along the edge of the merlon and take a bitter breath “But thankfully she was there, no matter what they did to her, she always smiled to me, listened and cheered me up. When there was rest time she brushed my hair and told me that it will get better, that we’d escape, we’d get out of there together and one day she’d free everyone there. I never understood how she could stay so strong. They treated her a lot worse than me. She had often a broken rib or black eyes, sometimes she was hurt so bad that she couldn’t even stand, but she smiled to me, always. She was like the beacon of light amidst the darkness. Some nights when they took her the halls echoed with her screaming mixed in with her laughter, she explained that she could never let them see her truly broken. An extreme attitude, she was lucky to be still alive, they had killed slaves for a lot less.”  
  
I’m still holding the empty bottle. Jespar takes it off my hands and I hug my knees, I have to be careful not to lose my balance otherwise it will be a long way down, but would I mind it, would anyone miss me. “You see there was a slave-master mage to whose power every cell, lock and chain was bound to. With him alive there was no way anyone could escape. He never left the building so he used the ‘assets’ to full extent. He had some kink for abusing elves and there were only so many young and attractive elves around so there was this rotation between us and when it was her turn she always looked for a way to one day end him. I always thought that it was hopeless that it would never happen but he got reckless. I was so broken and he knew it so I believe that he thought I could never stand against him so instead of the magical knife that he sometimes conjured up and loved to use on me he began using the real thing. At first I didn’t even dare to think of stealing it but with time I built up the courage and finally I swiped it and brought back to her, if there was anyone who could do it, it would have been her. There came a day when she managed to kill the mage master with the very same knife that I got her and she started an uprising among the slaves. She was clever to use the one slipup of that mage to kill him, take the key, arm and release the other slaves with the help of those slaves who were trusted, who none of the guards were suspicious of. It was bloody brilliant as well as a miracle. We were all broken, but she just inspired us, gave us strength. It was a day when the halls of that mansion ran red, but we made it out alive, many weren’t that lucky. When we were out we went our separate ways. She wanted to cross the border so she could get out of that land and find a new beginning in Cirodill and I just went home, gods how I hate to call it that. ”  
  
“I’m so sorry.” He genuinely seems to be, there is slight pity in his eyes but I don’t want or need anyone to pity me so I laugh bitterly “No need to be, it is over with and there’s nothing one can do to change the past. All that is left is to deal with it and move on.”  
  
“Spoken like a true Wiseman but what happened to you two?”  
  
“Well I went home, that really wasn’t home, got some real clothes and a proper dagger, don't know why, but I kept the torture knife still with me. A silly reminder of a state and a place where I never want to be again. When I'd gotten the scarce supplies from 'home' I made my way to a village, made small money by chopping firewood. I was in a terrible state so it was all I could do for a while. The people there were nice and they didn’t ask many questions so I stayed until one day a stormcloak soldier and she came running from Helgen to the village I was in. As it came out, her luck didn’t last. She was caught in the middle of an ambush on the border and was falsely dragged to be beheaded. As she tells the story she had her head on the chopping block, it was still covered in warm blood. She saw the executioner raise his heavy axe and then she closed her eyes, she was ready to leave this world behind but then a mighty rawr, a dragon black as night appeared from the sky and landed on the guard tower. Its cry was so loud that it could make your ears bleed. Thanks to that distraction she managed to escape. When I saw her again in that village I just ran to her and from then on we were inseparable. She got into trouble and I was right there with her. She was that kind of person who’s the soul of the party, the person who everyone loves, the person who inspires hope and makes people do unbelievable deeds. She did the craziest things and had craziest friends. Because of her I even joined a college, the Thieves Guild, the Dark Brotherhood and even the Companions. Life with her was like a flame that burned way too intensely and way too bright, but without it you’d be cold and in the dark. We travelled the land together for years, at first she was a person who I admired, then a person who I admired and who was a true friend, later she was a person who I admired, who was my best friend and the person who I had the biggest crush on.”  
  
It is strange to think of her again, I really miss her, makes me sigh “She was so ambitious, she always wanted to be more powerful, to get more money, to do and be more. Everything with her was dangerous but I loved it, I think that I loved her, but she didn’t feel the same. Often she had little crushes and small romances of her own like the ones with Brinjolf, Veezara, Malborn and others. She loved them fiercely, but it never lasted and there was I, always by her side, always the shoulder to cry on when the relationships didn’t work out. And it went on like that for years and every time I managed to find the courage inside me to tell her what I felt she had fallen for someone new. At one point in time she’d fallen for this beautiful vampire Serana, but the undead woman turned her down and so I was the shoulder to cry on once again but that time I revealed her what I felt and she just told me that she could never see me like that, I was like a little sister to her and it would be best if we’d stay friends. After that we weren’t so close, she grew distant from me and one day I just went my own way.”  
  
He crosses his arms and slightly nods “She seems to be a little like Lysia but it is for the best that it went this way otherwise you’d still be miserable wondering what if.” He is right, I’d rather have lost her then be constantly miserable by her side, it would have broken me eventually. He casually asks me “You speak of her fondly, do you still have feelings for her?”  
  
Ah the dreaded question, I’ve been trying to ignore myself for quite some time by telling myself that I don’t care but I think it’s time to face it. I’ll speak the truth “I’ll always have some feelings for her, she has been there for a great portion of my life, we’ve been through a lot, but I could never be with her even if life had gone differently. Our time apart made me understand how different we really were and how much she had changed. She wanted everything when she wanted it, she wanted everyone at the snap of her fingers, she wanted to be seen by everyone, to be feared and loved by the people, she wanted all the money, power and knowledge in the world there was nothing she wouldn't give to become more powerful. Then came I, the sidekick who just wanted to belong and be happy. As time passed from our separation I heard that with time she grew more powerful but became less of the woman I used to know. There were rumors that she even sacrificed a friend of hers to a daedric god for some pointless blessing. Guess the drive of her blood and soul must’ve been stronger than anyone had anticipated. I find myself wondering some times what happened to her and where she is with her life.”  
  
“Who knows, but it may be good that you don’t know because life is tough and people are complicated constructs that change and adapt to new situations or perish doing it. For all you know she may not even be one part of the same person you knew back then. I know it is hard to find a person you are alike with, sadly she wasn’t that… but hey now you’ve got me.” Isn’t that cute, he’s trying to cheer me up and it may be working so I smile a little “You may not be an elf but you more than make up for it With all of that.”  
  
“Aww… You’re too sweet.” I think that I blush a little, it is dark enough so I hope it goes unnoticed. He asks “I’m just curious but how long were you together?”  
  
Now that is a good question “Hmm…altogether a little over eight years.”  
  
I see Jespar’s eyebrows shoot up “That indeed is a long time.”  
  
“It is and Dredlandra didn’t make it easy on me. Maybe some other time I’ll even tell you about some insane situations she got us into, laughing shall be guaranteed.”  
  
“I’d really like that.”  
  
I look around us and I just now notice that it is really dark, the sun has set and now the stars and the moon are out. How long did we chat?  
  
Jespar yawns “My, my, now we’ve certainly lost the track of time, haven’t we? I really need to hit the hay for a couple of hours now. I have to go look for some new work tomorrow and I have heard about a nobleman who is looking for a sell-sword. That is if Arantheal or old Bushy Beard doesn’t have a new job for me by then. Say what you want about them. The pay is beyond generous.” What else can be expected from a huge religious order, people just hand their money over to them in hopes that their sins will be erased and afterwards they go on with their sinning. Want to be rich be the founder of a religion and start a religious order, if things go well and people start to follow you then life will be sweet, on the other side it can end badly, then it’ll not be worth it.  
  
Isn’t that curious when I’ve had a drink then I talk more about my personal stuff and my mind wonders so much more easily. Should I start a religion… wait I was having a conversation with Jespar and he’s about to leave. I wave at him awkwardly “Don’t be a stranger.”  
  
He chuckles “I’ll see you around, my fair lady.”  


**Author's Note:**

> Ok this was a LOT of talking and bonding so I'll have to push myself to write more fast paced situations, that'll be interesting.
> 
> But I hope you liked it. And thank you so much for reading <3


End file.
